Forsaken Crow
by Soul Charmer
Summary: I'm just returning something to someone that really helped me out. On my way, I meet this annoying jerk who thinks he's all that and I'm nothing! I'll show him, just you wait! But why do I keep getting this weird feeling whenever I'm around him? CrowXOC
1. Invitations

**Last Updated:12/10/13 Un-beta'd**

**Chapter 1: Invitation**

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><p>The pink leaves of the ever-so old tree swayed to the gentle breeze. The dew covered grass shined in the morning sunlight that passed through the cracks of the leaves. Blue and pink dance together in perfect harmony, while the inhabitants slowly woke from their slumber one by one. This, of course, included a young girl only 15, sleeping soundly under the protection of the sacred tree; though instead of leaning against the trunk, she was simply on the ground facing the branches.<p>

Black wavy hair vibrated from the passing breeze, while her green bag laid limply beside her. A streak of sunlight hit her eye, stirring her awake. She slowly opened her bright green eyes to the new day.

She sat up with her legs in front and her, left hand between her legs as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with the back of her right. She put her hand down and blinked a couple times. She stretched her arms then let out a sigh and looked around. "Where am I?"

A pink leaf fell on her head. She took it off and looked at it in her hands. The delicate pink rims looked so fragile and soft, the darker lines made it all the more beautiful, and the faint indents of the leaf made it look like a flower petal. A small breeze flew by and lifted the leaf away from her hands and into the great beyond.

"Oh, that's right. I'm in Elluel." The girl got up, and brushed the scattered grass and leaves from her clothes and hair. Her raven locks reached a little below her mid-back; it can be a pain when fighting sometimes. She had on a black plaid red shirt over a grey t-shirt, jean shorts, red sandals, and dark grey fingerless gloves. The shirt had been slightly torn and worn down over the years, but it was still her favorite.

When she was done freshening up, she started walking, but soon tripped over something. "Ow," she says while rubbing the back of her head. She looked back and saw her bag with a small mark from her foot. It was green so that when she needed to hide she couldn't be spotted easily. It had one strap that went over the head and a couple pockets to carry miscellaneous objects.

She threw the strap over her head, "Don't wanna forget you now do we," and continued her way. She walked a few yards until she came to a stop. She waited and listened, paying close attention to her surroundings; the bushes, the trees, and the river. When she thought it was safe she continued walking, but never dropping her guard.

Suddenly, three small blurs came out of the bushes and tackled the girl to the ground. They rolled around on the field until one of them said, "Alright boys! We finally got her!"

The girl focused her eyes in front of her and saw three familiar faces. The one on the right was a platinum blond, parted in the middle and going off the ends, with really light green eyes. He was wearing a light green leather vest and a yellow shirt with dark brown baggy pants. He was smiling slightly, but looked a bit timid. The one to the left had dark black hair but was a little lighter than the older girl, it covered a little of his right eye while the rest was flung back like it was hit by a powerful fan; he had ice blue eyes that could freeze the mightiest of men in their place. He wore a dark green leather vest with ripped sleeves, a grey shirt under that, and black baggy pants. He had a big smirk on his face and crossed his arms while looking at the girl. The one in the middle was grinning with confidence. He had orange hair that looked almost red that spiked down at his neck and brilliant gold eyes. He wore a red jacket with a black shirt underneath and dark red shorts, obviously the leader; clearly, he wouldn't be too good at hiding because of the bright colors he always wore, but he manages somehow. They all have the same pointed ears, although it's strange for an elf to have red hair.**(1)**

"Alright! We finally beat her! YAHOO!" They all cheered at their victory jumping up and down; after all, they are just kids. The girl sat there for a moment processing what just happened. She then closed her eyes, smiled, and got up dusting herself off. "Okay, okay, you guys got me," she said while she brushed off the rest of the excess debris. She put her hands on her hips and smiled at them, "I must say, I never thought you could jump me like that, especially you Taki.**(2)**

The red-head, Taki, responded, "Yeah, well, it just proves that we can take on anyone and anything. We're just that powerful, aren't we Kukai?"

"Hey, you guys forgot about me again," said the pouting blond. "Well you're just a big crybaby that's scared of nearly everything. Oh, look! You're already starting to cry."

"This is why we call you Crybaby Kaoru." While Kukai and Taki mocked Kaoru, they didn't notice something in the shadows circling them.

Kaoru was the first to notice, but he was too late to tell the rest. Several knives shot out at them and pinned Kukai and Taki to different trees while Kaoru squatted down putting his hands over his head for protection. They were freaking out, squirming like little animals caught and being prepared to eat. They heard snickering in front of them and stopped their futile attempts to escape.

"And that goes to show you to never underestimate anyone," said the girl bemused by their reaction.

"That's not fair, Jun!" yelled an enraged Taki. "Yea, we got you first," agreed Kukai.

"Calm down, I just wanted to show you how silly you guys were being. See? Kaoru here's the only one that dodged my knives," she lectured them with a smile, but then she looked at them seriously, "I think you're the ones that need extra training."

Taki and Kukai looked down in defeat and shame. "Well, I gotta get on my way, a long way to Henesys y'know and it's almost noon" Jun turned and took a step forward. "Wait!"

She turned again to see the boys, now free thanks to Kaoru, staring at her with sad expressions. "Why are you leaving? You can't go yet. Stay with us, please?" Kaoru begged with his puppy dog eyes. Jun's right eye started twitching, knowing she can't turn him down when he's using his infamous puppy dog eyes. As hard as she tried to rid herself of her love for them, she always had a soft spot for cute things. It was a terrible weakness for silent assassins to be sidetracked so easily by irrelevant things.

Taking her silence as a negative answer, Kukai jumps in, "C'mon, at least stay for lunch. Please?"

They leaned over her while she bent back trying to back away. "I'm sorry, but I need to get going as soon as possible."

Sighing in defeat, Kaoru and Kukai turned around and walked back to the village. Jun also turned around, but was stopped once again. "Hey." She turned around to see Taki staring at her with an uncharacteristic frown on his face. They stood there for a while, Jun waiting for him to speak.

"If you're not going to talk, I'll be taking my leave—"

"Promise me…" started Taki. "Promise me that… you'll come back one day." Jun stood there for a moment surprised at the sudden statement, looking at his solemn face with her mouth slightly open. She smiled and said, "I promise." That made Taki's serious face disappear and replaced it with a huge smile. "And when you come back, I'll be even stronger than you, just you wait!"

That brought a nice smile to Jun's face, a true genuine smile that lit up her features. Without another word, she turned around and left, Taki still staring off into the distance even after she had long gone out of his sight.

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><p>Loud bangs, screams, and screeches can be heard within the forests of Ellina. The sounds of the great forest beast, Faust, grunting and sending out battle cries. Now who would be so foolish as to take on the great beast? A young man maybe only 15 or 16 jumped swiftly from tree to tree, avoiding Faust's vain attacks. All that could be seen of the brave individual taking on the mighty Faust was a blur of black and red.<p>

It didn't even seem like a fight, more like someone mocking a brainless animal with food. He didn't attack, just jump from one tree to the next. Faust launched another attack, but the boy was too fast. He landed perfectly on the forest floor without making a single sound. "That all you got? I thought this would be more fun." The boy sighed and pointed his glistening black gun at the beast. The infuriated Faust charged at him, then shrieked as a bullet went right through him, bringing it to its death.

The boy looked lazily at the body. "Hmph. This was just a waste of time." He stuck the gun in its holder and left leaving the body.

When he arrived 'home' he quickly went in and walked through the corridors looking for a specific room. He kept a straight face, but he was furious inside.

He found a door that had a gold plate with something etched into it, but he paid no attention to the sign. He barged in and slammed him hand on the desk of a man with silver hair tied in a ponytail. "What's the deal, Wence? You told me it was going to be a challenge!"

"Now, now, Crow. I did say that, but it wasn't directed towards you." Crow gritted his teeth, "Well maybe you should make it clearer who you're talking to next time!"

"Yes well, speaking of which, where did your partner go?" Crow looked at him like he had just grown 3 heads, blinked, and then said in a confused voice, "'Partner'?"

Wence sighed, "Yes, partner. When you stormed in here this morning I was talking to another member." Crow just stood there, leaning over his desk with his hand still on it, and blinked a couple times.

Wence let out another heavy sigh, "You know, the cleric with short orange hair, she had it tied in a side ponytail."

Crow stared at him, then something clicked in his brain. He made an 'Oh I remember' face that instantly became a pissed off face. "HER? That damn airhead didn't do a thing! She just sat there looking scared like all the others! And the monster shouldn't even be called a boss! It couldn't even put up a decent fight! Honestly, it was a waste of time."

Wence pinched the bridge of his nose, "Don't blame me for wasting your valuable time, you were the one that flew in and took the job from her—" He was cut off by the phone ringing. Wence picked up the phone and answered, "Hello?"

Crow could hear small voices, but they sounded so high-pitched and blurred that he couldn't make out the words. "What? But…well yes, but…..just wait….yes Sir, right away," Wence hung up the phone, sighed heavily, and sank back into his chair.

"What was that about?" asked Crow. "It's nothing that concerns you right now," Wence answered. He took out what looked like a card and scribbled something down on it. Crow narrowed his eyes, but he let it go. He wasn't in any position to go against his Branch Leader or the Crusade Leader himself.

He walked out of the office feeling relieved after his outburst, it was the perfect way to let out some steam. He walked to his room hearing giggles and whispers on his way. He looked to the walls where girls were huddled together whispering to each other and huffed. "Dumb girls, always giggling and making weird faces." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and slouched the rest of the way. When he got to his room, he dropped onto the bed and stared out the window. A dark blue blur flew by, thinking it was a bird he put it aside. But soon, a white blur came and this time it crashed through his window.

He ducked under cover then when it was all quiet, he looked at where the thing landed. All he saw was a pile of broken glass and…something glowing?

Deciding to take a closer look, he got up and slowly made his way to the object. He saw, once again, a pile of broken glass and a clear stone. He picked it up with curiosity and examined it, turning it over in his hands. It was a clear stone shaped like a cross with arrows at the ends. At the top where the arrow started there was a gold hook with 3 more hooks grabbing the corners of the arrow; it looked rather fragile but it was surprisingly sturdy. After a while it started to glow a light blue. His eyes widened slightly, then it glowed yellow.

"I wonder what this is…and where it came from…"

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><p><strong>A FEW MOMENTS AGO<strong>

Jun was walking through Henesys Market trying to find some new clothes. It might have been her favorite shirt, but it was really wearing down. Besides, she couldn't even remember why it was her favorite.

"Dude, pass it over here!" Children should not be allowed to play in the market. They could break something or possible injure someone. The market was not a playground, it was a place for people who needed something to go and find it there. There was a crash from behind and she turned to see the two kids from before. One was sitting in the stalls with his legs and arms jutting out, while the other was buried in fish and crabs. Jun sweatdropped and she felt her lip twitch. The admin showed up, so she decided it was time to leave.

Why were there so many people there? It was never like this. Normally it would only be the few residents of Henesys and the tourists that loved to hang out at Victoria Island's most prominent spot.

She stopped in front of her destination. It was a small house in the back of an alleyway where only specific people, or those that accidentally stumbled upon it, knew existed. It looked run-down and small yet cute peaceful. People would be surprised what they could find at places like this if they actually took the time to look.

She walked in through the door hearing the soft ring of wind chimes. There was a lady sitting in a rocking chair reading a book. She looked like an old lady with the hood on and the slightly torn rags she wears as a dress. She coughed a couple times then looked up to she the raven at the door. "Oh, Jun. I didn't hear you come in. It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too, Maya." I politely replied. Maya may look old, but she's was probably only 30 at most. Well, maybe she was kind of old…. "Hey, Maya, I was wondering if you got that order done."

"Of course I did. I'll go get it now." She put the book down and got up walking toward the back room.

Jun waited in the room she just left, just looking around examining the place. It was pretty small, but that was to be expected from a lady that's always sick and can hardly take care of herself.

She strolled over to the shelves and glanced at a few dusty picture. The majority of them were black and white showing off how old they were. The pictures consisted of family members, friends, etc; some in color and the rest on the grayscale. There was one picture that caught her eye.

It was a picture of 2 boys each having one arm across the other's shoulder. They had a goofy grin on their faces and seemed to be proud of something. The weird thing was, they seemed strangely familiar. But, it was black and white so she couldn't tell exactly who they were.

Jun scrounged through her mind until she heard a high-pitched scream from the back room. She ran and pushed the door open. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of two unknown men with Maya. They were both dressed in black with masks. Their faces might have been hidden, but the bunny ears on their heads surely weren't.

One grabbed both of Maya's hands and the other was carrying a bag, obviously stolen. "Quit squirming bitch, we just wanna see wha'cha got here," said the one holding her like a doll. "It would be of no use to you, so give it back!" She tried to act strong, but the crack in her voice and her violent coughing weren't helping.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now quit yer yappin'!" The thief untied the bag to see what was inside, but that's when Jun took action. "You know, she's right."

The thieves looked at me with their red eyes. White skin and some sort of symbol on their forehead were revealed. "And what are you gonna do about it, huh? Do you even know who we are?"

Jun took out something from her bag, slipped it onto her arm and let the bag drop. In the time it took for the bag to hit the ground, two hwabis were already embedded into the thieves' skulls. Thinking they were just mockery bandits, she wasn't prepared for the giant puff of smoke that hit her face. She fell onto her back with her hands in front of her face as a reactive stance. When she peeked past her arms, all she saw was two little white rabbits hopping away.

Something shiny where the thieves once were brought her attention away from the cute little critters. It was the weird symbol that was on their foreheads; a dark stone in the middle with gold rims and wing-shaped things on the sides.

She examined the object before putting it into her pocket and went to pick up the unconscious Maya to go back into the safety of the house. She paused as she thought she saw a pink yo-yo behind the building, but quickly dismissed it and brought Maya. Taking care of her was more important that tricks of the eye.

She put Maya in her bed and took her order. It was a clear stone not shaped in any specific way. Jun turned it over with her fingers and looked it over thoroughly. The stone of omniscience, otherwise known as the all-knowing jewel. Why they call it that, she had no idea. Perhaps it had something to do with the colors it emanates. She took out another stone that looked nearly the same, aside from the shape. The new one was shaped like a cross with arrows at the ends and a gold chain running through a gold loop. Jun thanked Maya for managing to get one of the pretty stones. It was perfect raw material for what she had planned.

Thinking Maya shouldn't be disturbed, she left the money on the counter with a quick note and left; hearing the soft chimes again as she opened the door. Jun put the necklace around her neck and walked through the streets packed with stands and yelling people. She passed by a big group of people crowding one stand and thought she'd take a look.

'Eleanor's Fortunes.' A fortune-telling tent. She took a step away from the tent, but turned back when she saw a lady covered by a purple hooded cloak with gold swirls embroidered on it. Only the bottom half of her face was visible and her blood red lips were curled in a disturbing smile that sent shivers up her spine. Grey hair escaped the hood, but her fair complexion confused Jun of her age.

"I sense something very odd about you. Come with me, I wish to inspect you." She made a motion asking the raven to follow her. She went with the sketchy woman somewhat curious as to what this fortune teller could do. She led the assassin into her tent and mentioned for her to take a seat. The room wasn't so different from normal fortune telling tents, though maybe it was a bit creepier. She sat down on the other side of the table with her crystal ball. "What would you like to know?"

It was pretty straightforward. "Truthfully, I haven't given much thought about that." Jun kept a guarded facade. Something about that woman plagued her. Through the years, Jun has learned to hone her instincts to the best of any Night Lord's, and, through the years, learned to trust them without fail.

"Very well, then I shall pick for you."

The lady, believed to be Eleanor, mumbled a few things and did a few hand gestures. She stared into the crystal ball intently. "I see that you've gotten into a fight, a rather strange one I might add. You also received something valuable, am I correct?"

Jun panicked in her head but kept a straight face. Eleanor smirked and continued. "I can see something bad will happen soon; something precious will be lost." Eleanor silently gasped as she said the next prediction. "It seems that you are destined for great things and something you would have never expected." She murmured what sounded like curses under her breath, "Say, may I have a look at that necklace you're wearing?" She held her hand out waiting for Jun to give it to her.

Jun would have stilled to think, but couldn't because before she knew it her hand was reaching for the chain. As hard as she tried, her hand refused to listen to the commands her brain sent it. She glanced at Eleanor, but everything was starting to go blurry. Her blood red lips stretched in a wicked grin. Her eyes now visible were a sickening purple, they held no life in them, just an evil beauty.

Jun undid the chain and took the necklace off. She was inches away from handing the witch her most prized possession; the only thing she have left of her past. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to watch the horrible moment.

A loud crash could be heard from just outside the tent. Both women stopped everything they were doing. They looked up and in came crashing a… little boy? He had a navy blue hat with gold rims, the same color coat that seemed much too long for him, blond hair, tiny glasses, and a silver symbol on his forehead.

He smashed his way through all the walls and items decorating the place. "Why you little runt!" An enraged Eleanor jumped from her seat when the boy smashed onto it. Eleanor took out a staff with a blue orb on top, fired an energy beam, and took to the air. It caused a huge explosion that blew everyone in the vicinity away. The boy got up, no damage from the impact whatsoever, and jumped at Eleanor. Jun, on the other hand, was just blown away by the sudden impact.

The boy threw his yo-yo at Eleanor, but she dodged it swiftly. She headed straight for him, staff first. The staff hit him in the stomach and he plummeted toward the ground, ending with a loud crash and a lot of dust flying up. A pink yo-yo bulleted out of the smoke screen catching Eleanor off-guard. He had a direct hit to her face, sending her reeling back. But, with the advantage of being able to fly, she back-flipped and zig-zagged toward the kid again.

In the midst of the battle, they were unaware of Jun still lying on the floor covered by rubble. She groaned and got up holding her aching head. As an assassin, she was not used to the destruction and noise of an actual battle.

"What happened? Why does my head hurt so badly?" She didn't have enough time to answer herself because Eleanor crashed right in front of her causing her to back away. Eleanor got back up quickly and sped toward the boy again completely ignoring her would-have-been victim.

Why couldn't it ever be easy for him? All he was asked to do was deliver a stupid letter. And yet, he couldn't even get that done right! Even worse, he had to have met Eleanor along the way. From what he's heard, she was one of the weakest of the organization which made it easier on Sodane. He was using a yo-yo for crying out loud! Not that he was complaining or anything, he really liked his yo-yo.

He wrapped the string around the black witch and flung her to the ground. It was an unfair advantage that she could fly and he couldn't, yet he was still beating her no problem. Sodane looked through some of the rubble trying to find something. He didn't notice the cloaked lady was up and charging at him until he heard a shout, "Hey, Kid! Look out!"

Sodane flung flung head around and saw Eleanor speeding for him. He couldn't do anything just widened his eyes too terrified to move. All of sudden, her orb shattered. She stopped a few centimeters away and disintegrated into black ash.

Sodane was still too terrified to move, so he stiffly angled his eyes to where he saw a girl sitting on the ground with her arm stretched out. He guessed she was the one that broke the orb, but how did she know that was her weak spot?

He caught her looking at him and remembered why he was there. Now able to move his limbs, he rummaged around and found what he was looking for earlier; a black stone with gold wings. He also decided to take the staff from the pile of ash and bolted out of sight.

She thought she threw a hwabi, but wasn't quite sure. She was going off instinct when she did that, but now she was fully aware. Her eyes were still wide and her arm hadn't moved from its outstretched position. She glanced at the boy and made eye contact. He turned stiff and began shifting through the rubble. Then, he picked up Eleanor's staff and left. He did it so fast that it almost seemed like he was never there and all that happened was the remnants of a tornado flying by.

Jun finally regained her composure and got up. Soon, a bunch of people were surrounding the area. Taking it as her cue to leave, she grabbed her bag and left in a flash. The best thing about being an assassin: the speed.

She stopped to check her surroundings and find out where she ran to. There were hills everywhere and the only monsters she saw were tiny mushrooms. Perfect, she ended up at the Six Path Crossroads. All she needed to do was get on the ship.

She put her hand to her chest, but something didn't feel right. The necklace! It's gone!

She began panicking and searching frantically through her bag. "Where could it be? I remember taking it off and then…. The blast! It must've been blown out of my hands when I was still unconscious. Who knows where it could be by now." She let her shoulders sag and dropped to the ground.

She opened her eyes when she felt the texture if paper in her bag. "That wasn't there before."

She picked up the letter and looked at the seal. It looked just like her necklace only in red wax. The front had the same cross only yellow this time, but what really interested her was what it said on the front, "Welcome to the Organization."

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><p><strong>(1) I did have a purpose for adding them in, but after the rework of the Silent Crusade in GMS I'm trying to figure out what to do with them now...<strong>

**(2) Taki is pronounced TK. I got it from one of my classmates, I'm not sure why I decided to use it, but I might as well keep it 'cause I am not going back to fix all of that. Call him Taki if you want, I don't think it really matters.**


	2. Second Impressions

**Disclaimer: I do not own MapleStory or any of its character, NPCs, monsters, etc.**

**Updated: 12/10/13 Un-beta'd**

**Chp. 2: Second Impressions**

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><p>"You WHAT?"<p>

All was quiet in the enormous building until Wence's voice flew through the corridors.

A boy wearing navy blue clothes with glasses and gold hair winced. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know h-how it happened, h-honest." He stumbled over his words petrified of what the silver haired man in front of him would do. Wence just sat back in his chair and pinched the spot between his eyes, "It was such a simple assignment and you couldn't even do that right. Then again, you are just a child."

That made Sodane flinch again, it really irritated him when people referred to him as 'just a child'. It may be true, but it doesn't mean that he was any ordinary child. He hung his head and bit his tongue trying to hold back a retort.

"It can't be helped. What exactly did you do on your way?" Sodane looked up and thought back. "Well, I was walking through Henesys Market with the note in my hand and there was this stand. It said 'Eleanor's Fortunes' and the name seemed familiar so I thought I'd take a look. While walking I saw this lady who was covered in a purple hood talking to a girl. I was about to walk over to them until two henchmen dragged me into an alley. When I took them out I crashed into the tent and beat Eleanor. Turns out she was a BlackWings member, but a rather weak one. The girl I mentioned before defeated her no problem."

Wence's eyes narrowed just a little at the last statement, "I see. Did you find her emblem?"

"Yes, of course." Sodane took out the emblem he found and held it out in front of him. Wence scanned the item up and down then said, "You're off the hook this time. But tell me, where is the note now?"

"I told you, I have no idea. I must've dropped it while fighting."

Wence put his hand on his chin in a thinking manner. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. You are dismissed, Sodane." Sodane bowed and ran out of the room. Wence turned in his chair and stared out the window. "Let's see what happens next."

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><p>The sun was out, the wind was calm, and all the monsters were out and about doing their regular daily business. Everything seemed to be perfect, even the plants were in a good mood…according to the priests that is.<p>

However, a perfect day could only last so long.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

In the middle of a deep forest was a not-so-happy looking Jun. She had the note in her hands, opened, and threatening to tear in her vice grip. "You've got to be kidding me." She stared at the note in her hands, rereading it over and over. "This is some kind of joke, right?"

She sighed and dropped to her knees. "What do I do now? I have to get on the next ship out of here, but I also have to return the note, and might I add, the note isn't quite helping either."

The note: 'Welcome to the Organization,

We are pleased to tell you that you have been invited to join the Silent Crusade, a secret league of elite members of Maple World. The Silent Crusade helps all of Maple World, unknown to others. We cannot give you our location, therefore, you must find it on your own to see if you have what it takes to join. You may not consult others about this, you must use only your own knowledge and skills.

Be warned; if you cannot complete this task, you will be hunted down and executed to prevent anyone unwanted to get any information. You have one week beginning the moment you finish reading, we wish you luck.'

Jun sweat dropped while rereading it for the 15th time. "Did they really have to threaten me? I can't take up this offer, I have other places to be. Then again, this wasn't actually addressed to me, so it doesn't apply, right? But it's not addressed to anyone for that matter. I've never even heard about this Silent Crusade thing and I'll be executed if I don't find it, and to top it all off I only have ONE WEEK!"

She freaked out after she realized she couldn't get out of the situation and dropped her head. After a while, she got up and lazily packed her things. She walked out of the room and down the hallway, flinging the keys toward the front desk. It landed with a 'clang' and she stumbled out of the hotel.

As she was walking through the town of Ellina she glanced at her reflection in a small puddle, but kept going. She stopped abruptly and retraced her steps back to the puddle, "Aw man. I'm a total wreck! I gotta freshen up."

She sighed then continued her journey again. The closest town from here was Elluel, but of course she couldn't go back there, not yet. The next option was Perion; not bad, but it wasn't the best place to freshen up considering it was inhabited by sweaty warriors all the time. "Looks like I got no other choice. Perion, here I come." She says unenthusiastically and discouraged.

* * *

><p>On the outskirts of Perion, a low rumble could be heard in the distance of the long mountain ranges of Perion. A small dust storm was seen passing by many civilians and creating a huge wind that blew everything away. In this dust storm was none other than Jun followed by some unwanted company.<p>

Jun looked back, still running for her life, to see if they were still chasing her. Indeed they were and they were still furious, constantly yelling threats and curses at her.

"Why are you chasing me? I didn't do anything to you guys!" She yelled back at them trying to make her voice sound over the noise.

"We dun need a reason to beat the living hell outta ya, ya damn thief!" The others encored their agreement. "You'll pay for what you did!" They advanced even more enraged than before.

Jun's eyes widened whipping her head back to face the front and sprinted even farther trying to out-run the gaining mob. She would've used her incredible speed, but she was too busy panicking to even consider that.

She stole a glance back and made an 'I'm so dead' face. She was so frightened by the size of the mob now that she almost didn't hear someone call out, "Look out!"

She quickly turned her head to scream as she saw what was coming up. A young man walking carelessly around like he didn't have a care in the world. Why did she think he was careless? Simple, because he was looking to the side and wasn't paying attention to anything around him, even the enormous angry mob that, by then, everyone should've know about.

Jun snapped her eyes shut and stopped her feet, using her heels as breaks. Unfortunately, she was a tad late and ended up ramming into him. They fell into a cart of fruits that hid them from the passing mob of angry warriors.

"Whew, that was a close —."

Jun couldn't finish her sentence because the cart shattered making her fall onto him again. The fruit flew up and some just splashed on the floor. Unluckily for the boy, he made direct contact with the rocky ground with his back.

Jun slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring into ice blue ones. Both their eyes were wide, not paying attention to anything else, not even how close their faces were. They soon came back to reality when fruits were falling on their heads. "Ow," Jun rubbed her head, eyes closed, with one hand while the other was still on the boy's chest. "Hey."

She looked at him again into the glassy blue eyes that were narrowed to show he wasn't pleased with something. "Can you get off me now?"

Jun blushed, but it was very faint, "S-sorry." She quickly stood up and looked away. The boy got up as well and swiped the fruit off his black clothes.

Jun looked back and did a quick scan. Pale skin, black clothes, black gun, and black hair. Jeez doesn't he look goth, Jun thought sarcastically, but she couldn't shake this weird feeling away.

When the boy was done he turned and left, not looking once back at Jun. This ticked her off, "Hey!"

He didn't acknowledge her and continued walking. Jun's eye started twitching when she called out again, "HEY!"

Again he ignored her. This time Jun wasn't going to let him off the hook. She used her speed and disappeared in a blur and reappeared in front of the guy, "What's your problem?" The boy stared blankly at her then scowled. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're the idiot that crashed into me; not to mention smashing the cart and nearly breaking my back!"

By this time Jun also had a scowl on her face and yelled back. "It never would've happened if you were watching where you were going! So this is your fault! And who are you calling an idiot?"

"I called you an idiot because you are one! And I wouldn't have to pay attention if you weren't running in the first place!"

"It's not my fault, I was running for my life!" They were face to face, neither of them wanting to back down. They stayed like that for a while just glaring at each other. The boy finally got tired, or couldn't come up with a comeback, and pushed Jun out of the way to keep walking. Jun stumbled, but quickly regained balance and turned to see his retreating figure. "Hey! Where are you going?"

He didn't stop but still answered, "That's none of your business. Besides, you aren't allowed there anyway." Jun just stood by and watched him walk away. He was getting farther and farther away until she called out again. "You haven't told me your name yet!"

This time, he stopped and turned. "I don't have any reason to give my name to a newbie like you." A tick mark appeared on her forehead and her right eye twitched. "Just who the hell do you think you're calling a newbie, you damn jerk!"

"Hn." He left without another word and leaving an infuriated Jun behind as well. "If I ever see him again I'll…I'll…Ugh! I don't have time to be caring about some egotistic moron."

She took another look at his back and saw a yellow cross on his back. Why does that look so familiar? She pondered this for a while until…DING! "I remember now!"

She pulled out the threatening note and looked at the seal and back at his coat. "I knew it! Hey, you! Wait up!" She ran to him and he stopped, obviously surprised and a little annoyed that she followed him. "What do you want now?"

"You!" She pointed at him when she got in front of him again. Pulling out the letter she shoved it in his face. "Do you know what this is?" He stood there for a few minutes and when Jun couldn't take the silence any longer, she pulled the note away and sighed, "I guess not." She turned to leave when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder.

"How did you get that?" His voice was calm, but his face showed concern and confusion. She looked at him staring into his bewildered eyes, then looked at the note. "I dunno, it suddenly popped up outta nowhere."

He removed his hand and looked away, his hair hiding part of his face. "Huh, that explains it. No way some newbie could get an invitation." Jun looked at his face and saw him smirking. He's smirking! Why that little…he thought she wasn't good enough! He looked at her scrunched up face and put his hand on her head. "Don't scrunch your face, it doesn't suit you."

She would have blushed if he hadn't patted her. She swatted his hand off and questioned him again, "Do you know this symbol or not?" He looked at her again with his hand still pulled back. He put his hand down and said, "So what if I do?"

"So what? SO WHAT? I'll tell you what! I've got less than 2 days to find out where this Silent Cru—."

He cut her off by shutting her mouth with his hand and dragged her into an alley. He then put his face close to hers in a frightening manner, "Did you not read the note? No one knows about it besides those in the organization. You can't just blurt it out everywhere you go! You understand me?"

She looked at him, wide eyed, and nodded slowly. He let her go and started walking away. "Hey!" He turned his head and looked at her boredly. "Aren't you gonna tell me about this? My life's on the line here!" She pointed to the note that was still in her hand.

He turned back and walked out of the alley. Sensing she was about to yell at him again, he intervened, "I never said I would. Besides, it says you have to find it on your own without the help of others."

She grunted and watched him leave. A light bulb flashed above her head. He must be going to that Silent whatcha'ma call it. All she had to do was follow him. Jun smirked and ran after him quietly. Another quirk to being in the thief branch: the ability to silently stalk your prey.

He walked around Perion going to random markets and into houses. Of course she couldn't follow him into the house, she'd be found out for sure. He made quick stops here and there and after about 7 hours of following Jun got tired of it.

"He's done nothing but walk around and look at stuff. I never thought anyone's life would be so boring." She accidentally kicked a can and it made a loud clatter against the hard rocky floor. Jun silently cursed herself and quickly hid behind a building.

He turned and looked around suspiciously. Jun held her breath and felt her heartbeat accelerate. When he turned around and went back to walking, she left out a sigh and put her hand to her chest to calm her rapidly beating heart, "That was a close one."

"What was?" Jun gasped and jumped to hide at the sudden sound. She turned and backed away staring wide eyed at the person who scared her. "Y-you. How did you find me?"

He chuckled and put his hands in his pockets. "It wasn't that hard. I knew you were following me from the start." Jun hung her mouth open in disbelief. "No way. I'm a trained assassin, there's no way you could've found me without some kind of cheat."

He stared blankly at her with amusement in his eyes. "You, an assassin? There's no way the Dark Load would ever train a newbie like you." A tick mark and it's way to her forehead and she yelled, "I'll have you know I'm a Night Lord and one of the Dark Lord's best pupils!"

He smirked with enjoyment still swimming through his eyes, "You're funny. But next time, try making your jokes at least a little believable."

She grinded her teeth in anger and was about to lecture him again until a little boy ran up to them, "Crow, Crow. There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you." He waved while running up to them. When he got there he was panting with his hands on his knees. Crow? So that's his name. Now that he mentions it, the guy kind of does look like a crow. Jun looked Crow over again. He wore the same black clothes and a bright red scarf, his futuristic looking gun was securely tucked away in his belt, and he had a little streak of white hair.

He felt someone staring at him and turned to face Jun. "What are you staring at?" She narrowed her eyes and whipped her head around crossing her arms. "Nothing."

He shrugged and turned back to the boy. Jun looked at him too through the corner of her eye. The boy was wearing navy blue clothes and his coat looked like a cape behind him. He had small glasses and a dark blue hat. There was also a silver shield emblem on his forehead and he was holding a pink yo-yo. A pink yo-yo? That's pretty funny considering he's a boy. She silently laughed and blocked out the feeling that she should be focused on something else.

Crow and the newcomer were arguing about something, they completely forgot she was there. The boy flung his yo-yo at him and Crow was even angrier than before. That move looked familiar to Jun, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She snapped her fingers in realization and they stopped their argument to look at her, now remembering they weren't alone. She pointed at the boy and said, "I remember now. You were the one that saved me from that witch."

The boy looked at her with wide eyes then pointed a finger. "You were the girl that Eleanor was controlling."

Crow scoffed at this. "Hn. You were overpowered by Eleanor? You're more of a newbie than I thought."

"Says the one who got run over by this so-called 'newbie'."

"You're the one that was running!"

"And you're the one that wasn't paying attention to anything!"

"You're such a nuisance."

"Well I wouldn't even be here if you had been watching where you were going."

As they continued their argument, the kid stood there watching them with a bored expression. He finally decided to intervene when Crow grabbed Jun by her collar and she gripped his hair in what looked to be very painfully.

"HEY! QUIT ARGUING! C'mon, Crow. We need to go now!" He waited until they let go of each other. Crow dropped Jun and she fell to the ground, landing with a thud. He pushed his way past them and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Whatever."

Jun and the boy were watching him walk off, then the kid turned to look at her, "I don't believe I introduced myself yet. Hello, my name's Sodane. It's a pleasure to finally formally meet my savior." He bowed politely then stuck his hand out to help her up.

"Yeah, uh…. My name's Jun; Jun White. Nice to meet you too." She gladly accepted his offer and got up, "Aren't you supposed to be running after him now?"

She pointed in the direction Crow had disappeared in while Sodane just shrugged. "I just wanted to ask you something, something he won't be very happy to hear. That's why I let him go off first," he said with a slight smirk.

"Okay. Well, what'd you want to ask me?"

* * *

><p>"Shopping, haven't done that in a while." Jun crossed her arms over her chest and looked around the mall.<p>

Kerning Square was a really big place with stores everywhere! Not to mention monsters here and there, but that was just the way of life in Maple World. Luckily, the stores had special protection against them. The protection was none other than the customers themselves, so everyone that knew how to live had some kind of weapon on them.

Jun walked around, scanning the stores as she went. She stopped as something in a display window caught her eye. She decided to take a look and walked in. It was a pretty big store and it was split into sections so that anyone would know where to go. Jun wasn't one to go 'ga-ga' over shopping, but this store had practically everything!

She tried on several things before narrowing it down to a few objects. First it was a basketball jersey and her comment on that was, "Not my style." Next was a pink frilly top with white polka-dots, "Too girly." After that was black shirt with a white tie, "Hm, the sleeves are annoying me." And after that was a rainbow striped, no-sleeve top that went a little below her waist. "Not bad, I'll get this one and one more."

She picked out a black cape that was somewhat transparent with ripped ends and a new pair of jean shorts. Honestly, she got the cape because it was on sale and looked cool. She moved on to the section for hats, bows, hair bands, and anything else that fell into that category. Like before, she tried on multiple things and made comments. First, a tweed headband, "Great headband, but it doesn't suit me." Second, some clips shaped like fingers in a victory sign, "They don't hold my hair back enough." Third, a blue hat, "I look like a gangster." She finally settled with a pair of goggles. The lens were mismatched; one blue the other purple. It reminded her of the Battle Mage in Edelstien.

"Is that all I need?" She thought about it, then remembered what Sodane had said. "I should probably change a few more things." She ran to the other sections and decided to look around the beauty parlor.

There were hair salons, nail cares, and even tattoo parlors. A normal girl would be drooling over what she saw, but Jun just gazed amazingly at the number of things people could fit in one store, and at some machines that she's never seen before. She picked one up from a metal tray just to have it swiped from her hands. She looked up to see a rather ticked off looking woman that, she guessed, was around her mid twenties. She had stylish purple hair pinned up with two yellow clips and the rest held up it a short ponytail. "And vhat do you zink you vere doing with zis?"

"Uh, well." Jun rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "Well you see, I was just curious."

"'Curiosity killed ze cat,' you know."

Jun laughed nervously, "Eh he, yeah."

"Is zere somezing you vant, Miss?" The lady's accent was thick and one of her slimmed eyebrows was raised questionably at her.

"Uhm, yeah. What is that thing?" Jun pointed to the small swirly thing in the woman's hand. "Zis is a curler. You saying you 'ave never seen one before?"

Jun looked stumped and shook her head. "Vell, I vould show you, but you already 'ave gorgeous curly 'air."

"You think my hair's gorgeous?"

"Of course! I know 'air better zan anyone!" The lady stuck out her chest proudly. "But, it could still use somezing more."

Jun looked at her with surprise. "Something more? Like what?"

The woman shifted her weight onto one leg and put her hand over her mouth in a thinking manner. After a while, she snapped her fingers with a smile and took Jun by her wrist. "Come wiz me, I know just ze zing you vant."

She dragged Jun into a chair and began commanding other workers to do this and that. After all the running around and sudden touches on her head, Jun was staring into the mirror at her hair. It was still curly, but it was in a sort of ponytail held to the side and several curls showing on the top. In all honesty, she had no idea how they managed to get her hair like that.

"Wow… This is amazing! How did you get my hair to stay up like this?" She questioned the lady as she was gently feeling the ends of her hair.

"Zat, mon amie, is un secret."

"Woah, well I really gotta thank you. Is there something I can do for you?" Jun turned to face the hair dresser. She simply shook her finger, "Not at all! I am just glad to 'elp you, amoureux."

"Well, thank you again. I should come by more often."

"If you ever do, call for Madame Lis!"

Jun waved goodbye and headed for the tattoo section. There were various pictures of what the tattoos looked like. A few had skulls and some unidentifiable things coming out of the many holes, others had a heart surrounded by multiple objects. Some just plain creeped her out. And for an assassin, that was saying something.

She walked up to a boy maybe in his late teens and asked him if she could get something that wasn't permanent, but lasted a long time and through anything. "Yeah, we have those. Just talk to her over there." He pointed a pale finger at a girl with long black hair, wearing mostly black but some white here and there, and a few piercings and some chains hanging on her belt. All in all, she didn't look as emo as the rest of the people working in that section.

Jun walked up to her and asked if she could get something on her face. "Sure, what would you like." The girl was very kind and she smiled, unlike the rest of the emos that looked bored all the time.

"Let's see, what do have to offer?"

"I can do a giant scar on your head, it makes anyone look like a zombie." The thing that creeper Jun out the most, was that the girl was smiling when she said that. "Uh, no thank you. How about a simple white star over my eye?"

"Alright then." With that said, she immediately got to work. When she was done, Jun looked at the mirror again. She was surprised at the girl's handy work, truthfully she thought it would turn out a little more goth-like. The star was perfect and it slightly bolded on the edges. "Thanks, I'll be off now."

"You're welcome. Please come again soon." She was still smiling. Maybe being surrounded by depressing people everyday can take its toll on a person.

As Jun walked out of the store and out of the mall, she reminded herself of what Sodane had said. "Well, I got one part down. Now the other isn't going to be so easy."

* * *

><p>Back at the Silent Crusade, Sodane was acting a little more jumpy than usual. He and Crow had just gotten back with the latter still in a sour mood. He went straight to his room and shut his door with a loud bang. He clearly had no knowledge of the conversation Sodane had with Jun.<p>

With Wence gone for a few days, Sodane had more than enough time to do what he planned. Once Wence was back, Sodane would have to figure out a way for him to accept his idea.

He went into Wence's office and waited patiently. Not long after he got in the chair, a girl with black hair and green eyes came in and closed the door silently behind her.

"Good, you're here and you look great. I'll call Crow up." He pushed a button revealing a secret compartment with dozens of buttons. He pushed one and in a while, a grumpy Crow opened the door.

"What do you want?" He stared at Sodane with so much annoyance that he didn't even notice the other person in the room. He looked around the room and saw her, he had an even more annoyed look on his face. "Who are you?"

"Ahem." Crow turned to Sodane as he said, "Please introduce yourselves."

Crow turned back to the girl, something kept eating at him, a feeling like he'd seen this girl somewhere before.

She was leaning with her back against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest and her legs crossed as well. She wore a sleeveless white rainbow-striped shirt that showed off her curved, short blue jean shorts, and black leather gloves. Her jet black hair was tied up to the side with weird goggles on her head and several curls stood up on the top of her head, how they stayed like that, he had no idea. She had her eyes closed, so he could see the giant white star over her left eye perfectly.

He also noticed that she had a fair complexion and slightly pale skin adorning her cute face. He mentally slapped himself for thinking that, but continued staring at her.

She opened her eyes and he noticed they were an emerald green. He was suddenly reminded of the bright green orbs he saw earlier. Why did she pop into his head? Somehow this girl reminded him of her, but her hair seemed a little shorter and her features seemed different. Plus, she didn't make a sound much less move from where she was since he got there. She was definitely not the same girl earlier, so he didn't suspect anything else.

Sodane looked from Crow to the newcomer. "Since you don't seem to want to introduce yourself, I'll do it for you. Crow, this is Jun White."

She wasn't worried about giving him her real name since she never really introduced herself before, so to him, she was just a new face.

"She'll be your new partner..."

Crow blanked out after hearing the word 'partner'. He just kept staring at Jun with narrowed eyes while she did the same. Irritation crossed her face for a split second as she cast a sideways glance at Sodane, then continued the staring—more like glaring—contest with Crow.

_That concludes my search and saves me from death. But now, I face a whole other problem that could possibly end with me killing myself._


	3. Our Spiteful Relationship

**I already wrote this and was well into it, but the computer I saved the file on 'broke' according to my mother. I was kind of upset, though not really. That chapter sucked and didn't make any sense nor correlated with the storyline anyway, so I decided to start fresh. I've reread the other two chapters and fixed what needed to be fixed such as typos and perspective switches. Everything's fixed, updates will be posted at the beginning of the chapters, anything important will be in caps.**

**Thanks to**** ThanhnuFia**** and ****The 21 blue dudes**** for pointing out my mistakes. Special thanks to ****Validus Draco**** for reminding me I have an account on here .**

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to any NPCs, mobs, or even the storyline that all rightfully belongs to Wizet.**

**Sorry for any OOCness. Un-beta'd**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Our Spiteful Relationship<strong>

The room was so silent that one could easily hear a pin drop. Sodane sat cheerfully at the desk in between the two people trying to murder each other with their eyes. He let them continue for a while longer bemused and entertained, but waved his hand when the silence got too heavy for him to handle, "Okay guys, that's all. You can do whatever you want now. I already prepared a room for you, Jun. I'll get someone to show you around too." A sudden devious grin appeared on his face, "Actually, Crow can do that since he's already here."

Crow's eye twitched and broke off his gaze from the newcomer. He gave Sodane a clearly pissed off look and trudged out the room, "Forget it. I don't need another rookie to babysit."

Jun clenched her jaw to keep from shouting at him. This new persona would be hard to maintain if he kept acting like that. The door slammed shut behind him as his red scarf missed the closure by mere centimeters. "That jerk," Jun scoffed.

Sodane sighed, "That's exactly why I needed your help. Get him to come down from his high throne and knock some sense into him. He needs a reality check badly." Jun said nothing, just huffed in agreement.

Sodane shuffled through some files in the drawers of his new desk until he picked out a specific manila folder and handed it to Jun, "It contains the details of your first mission. Don't even bother asking me about it, Wence plans out everything. He's our leader, by the way."

Jun responded with a hum and took the folder to glance at its contents, "Alright. When do I leave?"

"Anytime you want. Just get Crow to go with you." He leaned back into the chair and kicked his feet onto the desk. He seemed to really enjoy his new position. Jun closed the folder and walked out with not so much as a wave back. The new leader smiled nervously and mumbled to himself, "Maybe she's taking this role a little too well."

She strolled through the halls of the gigantic building examining all the various doors lining the walls. For such a large building there weren't many people. She'd see the usual janitor every now and then, but it didn't seem like any of the other members were around.

Her boots clicked loudly on the polished stone floor, the sounds echoing in the capacious hall. Seeing the wandering aimlessly wasn't helping her, she decided to search for the entrance. She had the ask the few employees she came across for directions, but she found it eventually. She just had to get the directions memorized.

When she opened the big, black wood double doors, she wasn't sure what she expected, but it surely wasn't the sight of dust and barren mountains. Somehow she had ended up on the mountaintops of Perion.

She turned around to go back into the building and check her sanity, but the doors were gone along with the large structure. Was she dreaming? No, it was still around noon when she arrived at the Crusade hideout. Her senses were too sharp for someone to have knocked her out. He couldn't remember ingesting anything potentially harmful either. The only other explanation was that this was all real and she really was teleported somewhere close to Perion.

Well, no use pondering the improbable now. Jun wandered around the area trying to find the portal mentioned in the file. Using her skills as a trained Night Lord, she avoided the monsters easily.

She finally found what she was looking for after a while of searching. Despite the fair amount of people around the Excavation Site, she couldn't ask any of them because it was Silent Crusade business and they were, as the name suggested, silent to all but their own.

She examined the green swirling portal with hesitation. They wanted her to inspect the contents of this portal? As in, go into it? It was rather pretty, the swirling sparkles on a light green background and the beautifully shaped stone surrounding it in a funny, but still elegant, structure. Still, something didn't bode well with her about this portal.

Jun would have walked away and returned with a report on just her intuition, but she ended up progressing on the mission anyway. A Commander Skeleton formed just behind her and swiped at her back. Her sharpened senses warned her of the impending attack and, on pure reflexes, swiveled around just in time for the attack to miss and instead send her falling back into the portal.

She barely had enough time to scream before the barren scenery was replaced by eroding cobble and cracking once-polished stone. Her eyes caught a blur of black and red just before dust covered her vision and pain made itself known on her back. She got up quickly with one knee still on the ground trying not to flinch at the burning sensation on her back. When the dust cleared, she glanced up at the only other person in the new place she just crash-landed in.

Crow adorned a look of surprise; brows heightened, mouth open, eyes a fraction wider than normal. Jun couldn't help but think he looked slightly cute like that, but mentally slapped herself once she regained her senses. That look was quickly brushed away when he turned his head to face the other direction, "Oh, it's just you."

He was caught off guard when a loud crash sounded behind him and dust covered his vision, but he still shouldn't have let his cool demeanor leave so easily like that even when not in the presence of other people. Especially when his vulnerable state was seen by the newbie. From the way she looked when the smoke cleared, she was not someone to be messed with. Of course, she couldn't be that good, she was still a girl after all and, from his experiences, girls were too weak-hearted to do anything useful...except perhaps healing and support, but that's about all they're good for. But this girl...maybe he could use her to get out of this stupid job.

He turned back to the girl who was stretching her limbs in a none-too-discreet way, if on purpose or unaware of it he didn't want to know, "Actually, you might be of some use." The girl (what was her name again?) focused her emerald gaze on the other raven. "I don't feel like wasting my time on weak monsters today. Take care of them for me. And do it right. If I have to clean up after you, I won't be happy." He caught a very slight movement near her eye, but didn't think anything of it. He turned and walked through the gate closest to him knowing it was the exit after all the other times he's been in Mystic Gates.

Jun felt her eye twitch involuntarily. That guy was such a stuck-up prick; how did she ever think he was cute? Well, anyone probably would have thought he was cute at first glance, Jun was no exception. But then, she'd be reminded of his annoying personality when he opens his mouth successfully shattering the image of a perfect guy.

The sounds of clattering bones disturbed her thoughts furthering her irritation. She glared at the source of the sound, Lord Skeleton, and threw one hwabi to silence the annoying racket. It gave a loud groan before everything went quiet again. Jun huffed and stalked out the same gate she saw Crow go through with her arms crossed and eyes burning anything that was unfortunate enough to be in front of her.

The shift was less of a scare going out than in. She walked through the portal and landed on the dusty ground without a problem and continued to look crossed. A buzzing noise along with vibrations came from her bag. She dug through it until she found the file given to her by Sodane about the job. The file contained a small device that was shaking rather strongly for its small size. She pressed the only button on the device and it stopped buzzing, "Hello? Jun, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. What is it?" She heard a sigh of relief on the other side, "Oh, thank the Heros that you're alright. I was scared out of my mind when Crow came back alone."

"I can take care of myself, you know."

"Hey, I can't even worry about you?" He paused a while before continuing, "Anyway, since you got your first job done pretty early, I'll give you your next one immediately. Oh, and don't worry about Crow, Wence gave him plans already." She could hear the bitterness in his voice. Obviously that was cutting into his plan to knock Crow down some pegs. She heard mumbling that wasn't very nice from the bits she caught and decided to interrupt before Sodane went crazy, "My next mission?"

"Oh, right. Your next mission is to take out King Clang. That shouldn't be too hard, right? You don't need any transportation, Florina Beach isn't far from the Nautilus. I wish you luck. Sodane out!" The transceiver went silent. Jun pocketed it in one of her back pockets and set off for Florina Beach.

* * *

><p>The beach was lovely; coconut trees sprouting, sand as far as the eye could see and the sun was blindingly bright. But the monsters? They were a joke. Whoever planned out her missions severely underestimated her skills.<p>

She trudged back to headquarters in Perion dearly sick of the hot weather now. She didn't even bother going to Sodane's office, just headed straight for her room and plopped herself onto the bed. She snuggled her face into the pillows before opening her eyes in confusion.

The pillows smelled odd, not the bad kind of odd, just strange and sort of familiar. She sniffed again, it had no particular odor of something she knew. It was like the different scents that each person held. Whatever the scent was, it was oddly comforting. She was about to drift off into sleep until alarms rung loudly in her head. Her eyes flew open and she jumped off the bed. She had definitely smelled that scent before, that was Crow's scent! No wonder it was familiar, she caught a whiff when they collided the first time they met. That must mean this wasn't her room, but Crow's. Come to think of it, she didn't even know where her room was.

She sighed and held a hand to her forehead. Imagine what a mess it would have been if Crow had been at the base. She was glad Wence predetermined his mission today already. Making a note to thank Wence when she met him and tucking it in the back of her head, she walked out the room and headed for Sodane's office. She would ask him where her room was because she really needed rest.

The door creaked open on Jun's entry. She couldn't even get one word out before a letter that had already been opened was thrown at her. She had just enough time to see Sodane waving cheerfully before glitter invaded her vision teleporting her somewhere else.

She blinked at the sudden sight of marble and vines and the many people with fairy wings flying about. The letter disappeared from her hands in a million little stars that flew away with the wind. She would have been furious if she weren't so confused. Obviously Sodane had sent her to Orbis for some reason. From what she knew of the little leader, it had to have something to do with Crow.

Jun heaved an exasperated sigh. She really didn't want to deal with that prick right now. All she wanted was to get a tiny nap in, was that too much to ask for? She put a hand to her head again fighting off a headache.

A strong gust of wind buffeted her thin form. She hugged herself to block the chilly wind. Perhaps getting a tanktop wasn't such a good idea even if it had a pretty rainbow design on it. Her eyes teared up so much at the coldness that she had to squint to see three feet in front of her. How did the residents of Orbis live at the top of this tower in robes and dresses?

A few strands of hair swayed in front of her eyes. She took the leather goggles from her head and put them over her eyes. They were mostly used for battle, from what the cashier told her, the right blue lense used for scanning the enemy, calculating strength and weakness, while the left green lense determined strike distance and accuracy. The goggles would scan everything she set her eyes on for more than a second. The calculating numbers and shapes got a little annoying, but she would have to deal with it if she didn't want her eyes to dry or freeze.

Another gust of freezing wind blew by reminding her of the lack of preparation. She ran into the closest house and was glad it was a Weapon&Armour shop and not some random person's home. She asked the vendors if they had any coats, but only found that they didn't have a need for them. They did have some thick capes though, so she decided that was better than nothing. She also threw on her old flannel shirt over the tanktop for more warmth. The fur on the edges of the cape tickled her cheeks as she sunk into its fluffy warmth.

She gave them a quick thank you before leaving. Jun played with the transceiver trying to figure out how it worked. Sodane didn't give her so much as a call after she was unwillingly transported to the tower town of Orbis. Sighing, she gave up on trying to contact Sodane and wandered the floating hunting grounds of Orbis.

She stopped in front of a Mystic Gate she happened upon in her wandering. Of course, she should have known it was a Mystic Gate she was looking for. Knowing her duty, Jun took a step forward before taking the foot back. She knew she had to go in and check, but it didn't mean she would like it. If she kept hesitating, the events from Perion would repeat, so she willed herself after much consolation to take the step again. She closed her eyes and walked through the swirling green portal.

The transition was much smoother than the time she fell into it. Florina Beach wasn't much of a problem because she crossed through the portal without even knowing it. The scenery change this time wasn't as drastic allowing Jun to relax her tense shoulders. "Who are you?"

Jun darted her eyes to the black figure on a platform below her. His long coat and scarf whipped back and forth in the strong wind as his hair flowed like a black curtain over the icy blue eyes scrutinizing her. The goggles kicked in again with the numbers scanning Crow's form up and down. The blue lense closed in on his eyes and the gun in his hands bringing up words of caution. The green lense pinpointed his back and shoulders as weak points from his current position and calculated percentages and measurements that Jun really didn't need right now.

She dug her nails into her palms and bite her lip to keep from yelling at him. He noticed her actions, "Wait, do you know me?" Her eye twitched, but she made no further movement.

Crow scanned the body covered in a thick red cape in front of him. Her black hair was disheveled, probably the wind's fault, but he could still make out the neater curls. The odd goggles hid her eyes, but he could tell just from the way the skin stretched on her face that she wasn't too happy to see him. A lightbulb went off in his head after seeing the rainbow colors of her shirt and the evident white star over one of her eyes behind the goggles, "Oh, it's you again. Look, just go back. I can handle this on my own." He took out his gun and jumped off the platform onto the ground below. Jun followed soon after.

She landed with a soft thud in front of Crow, "Taking down that obese pixie bitch is my job, so stay out of my way." She turned away from a glaring Crow to face her enemy. As the goggles did their magic, she was surprised at the way she acted. That wasn't like her at all, what could have gotten into her to make her do that?

The goggles flashed in her eyes indicating and pinpointing where and when exactly she had to hit. Mama Pixie lifted her stubby arms as high as they could go in preparation for a spell of some sort. That moment was the time to attack. Jun flung a star at the pixie's exposed underbelly the same time Crow fired a laser-like bullet at the same place. The boss groaned and fell out of the sky to hit the ground with a loud smack. Crow tucked his gun back into its holster and casually glided to the exit gate, "Told you I could handle it."

"What are you talking about?" Jun ran to catch up and grabbed his shoulder to turn him around, "My star got her first." Crow scoffed, "Were your weird goggles interfering with your sight? My bullet was the one that took it down."

"I'm surprised you could see past your nose with that mess you call hair in your face."

"And I'm surprised you didn't freeze in that lewd fabric you call clothes." He jerked his shoulder out of her grasp and headed for the gate again, "I don't need to waste time arguing with someone like you." He stepped through the gate before Jun could retort. She gritted her teeth as her fingers massaged her temples trying to contain the oncoming migraine.

The wind buffeted her again throwing her fluffy cape into a frenzy and exposing her legs to the cold, but she couldn't care less at the moment. That guy just irritated her to no end. She didn't even know why she was still going along with Sodane's plan and why he himself wasn't doing anything to help.

Speaking of the devil, the transceiver vibrated in her pocket. "What do you want now?"

"Well gee, nice to hear from you too. Anyway, you're due in El Nath as soon a—"

"Let me stop you there," she held her hand out as if he were actually in front of her, "It's late and I need a break. If you're gonna send me on another goosechase—or should I say Crow-chase—you can forget it."

"...I guess you're right, sorry. Okay, you can come back and rest up and then head for El Nath some other time…. Make it soon though, please?" Jun huffed out a sigh, "Fine. I won't even ask why."

"Ahh no worries. It's to get a sponsor; the Silent Crusade doesn't pay itself, ya know." She went back to rubbing her temples, "Alright. Tell me more in the morning, let me rest for now." She got a quick "Okay" and then the line went dead. She heaved out another sigh and looked to the darkening sky.

It felt like such a long day, but it was really only a few hours. She hoped the rest of her days weren't as bad as this.

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, sorry. I wanted to get this out before 2014. I just don't have any ideas at the moment. I need to retread and try to figure out where I was going with this.<strong>


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